This report of the Community Educational Aides in Open Space School project evaluates the role and function of educational paraprofessionals in open space schools, in this case the elementary-level Bruce-Monroe School in Washington, D.C. The project entailed the employment of 13 aides during the 1973-74 school year to assist 23 Bruce-Monroe…

This report includes a description of the early history of the project, a description of the two components involved in the project, and pertinent questions about the project which are answered. (MS)

The feasibility of using criterion referenced tests (CRTs) in a large-scale evaluation conducted in an effectiveness evaluation context was investigated. The study began by examining the theory that structures the development and validation of CRTs to discover whether, on theoretical grounds alone, CRTs are suitable or not suitable for large-scale…

A survey to obtain a sample of representative opinions on tests and testing in the public schools is reported. Three categories of respondents (teacher union representatives, teacher trainers, legislators) indicate that teachers' attitudes toward standardized tests should be changed. (MLW)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a federally funded, nationwide survey of educational achievement in 10 academic fields. The program is examined to determine whether viable alternatives exist to measure educational achievement. The information produced by NAEP concerns the educational achievement of 9-year-olds;…

A program of health education was instituted in 1974 in three counties of Appalachian Maryland, beginning in fifth grade and designed eventually to include sixth and seventh grades. The first phase was a workshop for approximately 165 teachers designed to take them through the same learning experiences that they would provide to their own…

A reading supplement to provide background material for "A Handbook on Evaluation for Title IV Indian Education Projects", this document describes and defines the following: (1) needs assessment (definition and purpose; relation of needs to Indian Education Act; approaches; surveying--population sampling, kinds of questions, etc.; group…

This is a report on the evaluation of the Reading Strategy Project operated in 46 public and eight non-public schools during the 1974-75 regular school year. This project served 7,698 pupils. The design of the instructional format of the Reading Strategy Project was one which utilized a criterion-referenced diagnostic reading test, locally…

The project discussed here was an outgrowth of a Title I, Elementary Seconoary Education Act cooperative project involving nine Arkansas school districts. Initiated during 1971-72 school year, the cooperative's first two years focused on developing and field testing procedures for conducting district wide assessment of needs, program planning, and…

While much has been written on the topic of criterion-referenced testing and consequently its comparison with norm-referenced testing, measurement specialists have not as readily approached the subject of the implications involved in reporting such test information. The purposes of this paper are to (1) draw distinctions between criterion and…

A comprehensive listing is provided of the specific needs for research on instructional systems development which have been identified by the authors of 2,692 pertinent articles. These articles were selected and abstracted for a basic file of technical information on instructional system development. Since some articles date back as far as 1953,…

The primary goal of the Kentucky Needs Assessment Project is to develop methods of sampling and annually assessing the extent of learners' needs in Kentucky and to stimulate educational programming based on the reduction of learners' needs. The completed Phase I of the project was devoted to an identification of learners' needs and a determination…

An information feedback system for use in evaluating an educational program is described, and its effectiveness in evaluating the Follow Through program and its use in relation to the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are discussed. The systems approach to program evaluation consists of objectives clarification, decision making, and program planning. In…

This paper examines a program instructing pre-service and practicing teachers in educational psychology. It is concluded that the program, which utilizes a mastery approach, produces significantly better results than does the traditional method. (DLG)

This report discusses the merits of performance contracting in the light of recent performance contract experiment evaluations, and it provides guidelines for administrators who are considering the use of performance contracts. The merits of the OEO experiment and the interpretation of the results by the OEO and the Rand Corporation are discussed.…